After Sayaka's and Kaede's performance was over, I talked to Chihiro for a while about how he was handling this transition.
"I'm doing great!" Chihiro answered, before looking down. "But I feel bad that you had to help me, mending all those clothes, just because of my secret."
"Hey, it's no big deal, Chihiro. It gave me something useful to do for a while. And besides, it helped you out, didn't it?"
Chihiro nodded, still looking sad. "Yeah, true, but still... sorry for troubling you."
I take a deep breath, deciding to let it go, and change the subject.
"So, how is your programming going?" I ask.
Chihiro's eyes light up. "It's going great! I'm working on an AI program that you can communicate with! You can ask it questions, engage in conversations with it, and some other things I'm working on."
"Nice! Can't wait to see it!" I was excited for him.
Chihiro looked doubtful for a moment. "Well, I still have some bugs to work out on it. It doesn't always react the way I expect it to."
"Well, I'm sure that will work itself out," I respond, not really sure what else to say.
With that, Chihiro departed back to his dorm room. I decided to wander around the First Floor, and see what everyone else was doing.
The Movie Room door was closed, and appeared to be playing a horror movie of some sort. I couldn't get inside to watch, though.
Nobody was in the School Store, either.
However, when I arrived at the Game Room, I found Kaito and Celeste at the poker table, playing cards with one another.
"So, as you can see, any game requires strategy. You must anticipate your opponent's movements as well as you do your own. However, there is one thing that can trump strategy," Celeste told Kaito. "Luck."
"Luck? Who needs luck? I got skill! Skill trumps luck any day!" Kaito countered.
Celeste chuckled to herself. "Is that why you haven't beaten me yet?"
I decided to walk in at this point. "Hey, got a room at this table?"
Kaito looked up. "Bera! Come on over! I was just about to show Celeste that skill beats luck!"
"You mean you were about to repeatedly lose to me, correct?" Celeste countered.
We spent the next hour or so playing various types of Poker.
First, we played "Ghost Poker", which is a 5 card draw with one card discarded afterwards, known as the "Ghost's Hand". Each player's discard went towards the Ghost's Hand, and to drag the pot, you had to beat not only each other, but the Ghost as well. Failure to beat the Ghost's hand resulted in a draw, and the game would get re-dealt, with a new ante put into the pot.
Next, we played "Supermarket", a seven card stud game where you had three cards laid out, with various prices on them, followed by the deck, which was the most expensive. You had to "buy" your cards by paying the price in front of them and taking the card, leaving it face up. The best five-card hand would drag the pot.
We moved on from that to "Second Chance Poker", which was basically Five Card Draw with two discards instead of one. The second discard gave you a "Second Chance" to get the cards you needed to win.
Finally, we finished up with "Omaha Hold'em", a variation of Texas Hold'em where everyone was dealt four cards instead of two. You had to use two of your four cards, and three of the 5 community cards, to make your best hand.
Needless to say, Celeste wiped the floor with both of us during each game, but I had to admit, I was having fun.
"Now, do you see how luck can beat skill, Kaito?" Celeste asked smugly.
Kaito, to my surprise, laughed. "Nah. You've got luck AND skill, Celeste! We never stood a chance."
Celeste merely smiled back. "Of course not. I AM the Ultimate Gambler, after all. I never lose when it comes to games of chance, or games of skill."
With neither me nor Kaito having any objections to this, the three of us parted ways. I found myself heading towards Chihiro's dorm, to see what he was doing.
Chihiro let me into his dorm room, and to my surprise, there was an image of his face, on the computer screen in his room.
"Oh!" Chihiro calls out. "That's the AI that I'm working on. I named it 'Alter Ego'. It's just something I've been working on in my spare time."
As I approach the monitor, I notice a webcam embedded into it. Alter Ego seemed to follow me wherever I moved, as long as I was within range of the webcam.
"So, how does it work?" I asked.
Chihiro walks over and types a message to Alter Ego, via a chat box.
"Hi, Alter Ego! I brought Bera, a friend of mine, here."
Alter Ego's face became excited and happy, and it spoke.
"Hi, Chihiro! And nice to meet you, Bera! You're the Ultimate Tailor, right?"
My eyes went wide for a moment. "How'd it know that?"
Chihiro explained. "An AI, or Artificial Intelligence, processes huge amounts of data, looking for patterns to model in their decisions and replies. I guide it, encouraging responses that make sense while letting it know if it says something wrong or bad. Eventually, it picks up on the proper responses, and replicates those responses more often, making it more useful with practice."
"Can I type something to it?" I ask Chihiro.
"Of course! Just... be nice, ok? I don't want to teach Alter Ego bad things," Chihiro cautioned me.
I sat at Chihiro's chair and typed to Alter Ego.
"Hi, Alter Ego! I'm Bera. Nice to meet you."
Alter Ego smiled, its body-less head rolling side to side. It then spoke.
"Hi, Bera! How can I help you?"
I thought for a moment, then typed back to Alter Ego.
"What do you know about me?"
Alter Ego looked surprised, then appeared to be lost in thought. After a few seconds, it spoke.
"I know you are Bera Haikiko, the Ultimate Tailor. According to the E-Handbook, you are a boy. You have no brothers or sisters. Your height is 5'3", and you weigh 125 pounds. You have red hair, which appears to be shaved short on the right side of your head, and your eyes are blue. This is the rarest combination of hair and eye color, as approximately 0.17% of people have this. Chihiro says you are a good friend."
I look over at Chihiro, amazed at this response. Chihiro smiles back, cheerfully.
I type back to Alter Ego.
"Do you think you can help us get out of here?"
Alter Ego looked worried.
"I want to try, but there is no online connection in this facility. Additionally, there is metal within the ceilings, making a wireless connection impossible. I have detected one connection in the basement, but it has spent most of its time offline, only coming online to send updates to E-Handbooks."
Alter Ego looked down, sadly. "I'm sorry. But I'll do the best I can, ok?"
Feeling bad for the AI, I typed back to it.
"Don't feel bad. I'm sure you and Chihiro will do the best you can, together."
Alter Ego looked up, surprised, and then smiled brightly.
"Thank you, Bera! While I am still a work in progress, together with Chihiro, we'll keep working together."
"You're welcome, Alter Ego. I'm going to leave now. You and Chihiro take care, ok?"
Alter Ego rolled side to side again, smiling. "Ok! Bye bye, Bera!"
I stood up from the desk, and addressed Chihiro.
"Wow! This thing's really cool! Keep up the good work!"
Chihiro smiled back.
"I will! I just wish I had a way to download it into the facility's mainframe, but until then, I'll do my best to help out, any way I can!"
Noticing it was now dinnertime, I headed to the Dining Hall with Chihiro, where Theo was making sandwiches of various types. Ham, turkey, chicken, or even meatball sandwiches were on his menu, though we were always welcome to make our own food.
For a change, it was nice to see everyone getting along. Even Kenchikka seemed to be in a better mood, now that she had her jacket on.
However, the good times wouldn't last.
They never do